Psychology Chapter 5
5.1 Definition of Learning
o Learning- is any relatively permanent change in behavior brought about by experience or practice
o Maturation- kind of change due to biology, not experience Changes like the increase in height, or the size of brain 5.2 It Makes Your Mouth Water: Classical Conditioning
o Pavlov brought about the study of basic principles in learning
o Reflex- an unlearned involuntary response that is not under personal control or choice o Stimulus- can be defined as any object, event, or experience that causes response
o Reponses- that reaction of an organism o Pavlov and the Salivating Dogs
Classical conditioning- learning to elicit an involuntary, reflex-like, response to a stimulus other than the original, natural stimulus that normally produces the response
o Elements of Classical Conditioning Unconditioned Stimulus
Unconditioned stimulus- the original, naturally occurring stimulus “unlearned”
Ordinarily leads to the involuntary response Unconditioned Response
Unconditioned response- the automatic and involuntary response to the unconditioned stimulus
Unlearned and occurs because of genetic wiring in the nervous system Conditioned Stimulus
Neutral stimulus- has no effect on the desired response prior to conditioning
Conditioned stimulus- in classical conditioning, a previously neutral stimulus that becomes able to produce a conditioned response, after pairing with an unconditioned stimulus
Conditioned Response
Conditioned response- learned response to a controlled stimulus o Putting it all together: Pavlov’s Canine Classic
Pavlov did an experiment in which he pair the ticking sound of a metronome with the presentation of food to see if the dogs would eventually salivate at the sound of the metronome
Metronome- a simple device the produces a rhythmic ticking sound
Acquisition- the repeated pairing of the neutral stimulus and the unconditioned response stimulus
An unconditioned stimulus is always followed by an unconditioned response stimulus and a conditioned stimulus is always followed by a conditioned response stimulus
Basic Principles to Classic Conditioning The CS must come before the UCS
Placed a hungry cat in a box with a lever that if pushed it would let the cat out and eventually lead the cat to food
The cat never learned to push the lever to escape right away but took less time to find the lever
Law of Effect
If an action is followed by pleasurable consequences it will tend to be repeated; if the action if followed by unpleasable consequences it will tend not to be repeated
o B.F. Skinner: The behaviorist’s behaviorist
Gave the learning of voluntary behavior a special name: operant conditioning Operant- any behavior that is voluntary and not elicited by specific stimuli In operant conditioning learning depends on what comes after the response
5.5 The Concept of Reinforcement
o Reinforcement- any event of stimulus, that when following a response, increases the probability that the response will occur again
o Consequence that is in some way pleasurable to the organism o Primary and Secondary Resources
Reinforces- items or events that when following a response will strengthen it Primary reinforcers- any reinforcer that is naturally reinforcing by meeting a basic
biological need such as hungry, thirst, or touch
Secondary reinforcer- any reinfocer that becomes reinforcing after being paired with a primary reinforcer, such a praise, tokens, or gold stars
o Positive and Negative Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement- the reinforcement of a response by the addition of experience of a pleasurable consequence, such as a reward or a pat on the back Negative reinforcement- following the response with the removal or escape from
something unpleasant will also increase the likelihood of that response being repeated
5.6 Schedules of Reinforcement: Why the one-armed bandit is so seductive
o The Partial Reinforcement Effect
partial reinforcement effect- a response that is reinforced after some, but not all, correct response will be more resistant to extinction
Example- Bianca’s mother giving her a dollar at the end of the week if she has put her clothes in the hamper every day for the week; when Bianca’s mom stops giving her a dollar Bianca will not stop putting her clothes in the hamper
continuous reinforcement effect- a reinforcer for each and every correct response; more like to fall back to old habits once the reinforcer has been taken away
example: Ashley’s mom gives her a quarter after she outs her clothes in the hamper when Ashley’s mom stops giving her quarters for putting her clothes in the hamper Ashley will most likely stop putting her clothes in the hamper again
interval schedule- when the timing of the response is more important
ratio schedule- when it is the number of responses that is more important because a certain number of responses is required for each reinforcer
punishment by removal- the kind of punishment most often confused with negative reinforcement; behavior is punished by the removal of something pleasurable or desired after the behavior occurs
example- grounding a teenager if removing freedom to do what the teenager want, placing a child in time out
Negative Reinforcement versus Punishment by Removal
Examples of Negative Reinforcement Examples of Punishment By Removal Stopping at a red light to avoid getting in an
accident Losing the privilege of driving because you’ve had too many accidents Mailing an income tax return by April 15th to avoid
a penalty Having to lose some of your money to pay the penalty for late tax filing Obeying a parent before the parent reaches the
count of “three” to avoid getting a scolding Being “grounded” (losing your freedom) because of disobedience
5.8 Problems with Punishment
o Punishment is used to weaken a response and getting rid of a response that is already well established is not that easy
o Punishment typically only serves to temporarily suppress or inhibit a behavior until enough time has passed
Example: punishing a child’s behavior doesn’t always eliminate that behavior completely
o Punishment by Application can be quite severe and typically stops the behavior immediately Severe Punishment may cause:
The child to avoid the punisher instead of the behavior being punished, so the child learns the wrong response
May encourage lying to avoid the punishment
Create fear and anxiety, emotional response that do not encourage learning Hitting provides a successful model for aggression
o How to make Punishment more Effective
Punishment should immediately follow the behavior it is meant to punish If the punishment comes long after the behavior, it will not be associated
with that behavior
Punishment should be Consistent
First, if the parent says a certain punishment will follow a certain behavior, then the parent must make sure to follow through and do what he or she promised to do
Second, punishment for a particular behavior should stay at the same intensity or increase slightly but never decrease
Punishment of the wrong behavior should be paired, whenever possible, with reinforcement of the right behavior
Instead of yelling at a two year old for eating with their finger the parent should pull her hand gently out of her plate and say “No, we do not eat with our fingers”
